What Does Ezra 6:3 Mean?
In the first year of Cyrus the king, the same Cyrus the king set a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem. Let the house be built, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let its foundations be strongly laid. Its height threescore cubits, and its breadth threescore cubits.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;THE KEY
The word translated “offered” carries the sense of drawing near, making nearness the purpose the rebuilt house serves.
THE MEANING
The verse gives restoration a concrete form: a house is built, its foundations and dimensions are named, and offerings are brought near there. What is restored includes both structure and access; nearness has a place and a practice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that nearness to God is only inward or abstract: here it has a defined place, foundations, dimensions, and practice.
THE ROOT
יִתְקָרְבוּן
yitqarbun
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
To come near, approach, or draw near.
The Aramaic verb translated “offered” comes from the root for drawing near. The offerings are not only things presented; their wording makes them acts of approach, giving the rebuilt house its purpose.
ALSO GROWS
qorban: Offering; drawing near.
קוֹרְבָּן
The same root makes an offering a means of approach, illuminating what happens in this house.
qarov: Near, close.
קָרוֹב
This branch preserves the root’s basic sense of nearness: the offerings bring what is presented close.
יִתְבְּנֵא
yitbene
GROWS FROM
בנה
b-n-h
To build or establish.
“builded” in this verse is yitbene. The word names actual construction: the house is established in material form. Its foundations and measured dimensions give that building a definite shape.
ALSO GROWS
boneh: Builder; one who builds.
בּוֹנֶה
This branch shows the action as work that brings a structure into being.
binyan: Building; structure.
בִּנְיָן
The related noun makes visible the built form that this decree specifies.
THE PATTERN
A dwelling is shaped to make nearness concrete and shareable.
And let them make me a set-apart place, that I may pitch my tent among them.And the word became flesh and pitched a tent among us, and we beheld his weight, the weight as of the only-born from the Father, full of favor and truth.Have you not seen that you are God's temple, and that the breath of God dwells in you?THE THREAD
Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, If anyone of you brings near a drawing near to the LORD, you shall bring near your drawing near from the cattle, from the herd and from the flock.Ezra’s Aramaic word translated “offered” and Leviticus’s Hebrew word translated “bring” share the root קרב (q-r-b), meaning to draw near or approach. In both verses, an offering is an act of nearness, so the restored house is given purpose as a place where approach takes form.
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